Hidden Door moves to Maybury paper factory for 2025

Hidden Door, the Edinburgh organisation that opens up forgotten urban spaces to host wild and wonderful multi-arts festivals, have announced they will be back in the spring of 2025 in a new venue, and the site sounds like one of their most ambitious projects yet. Hidden Door have revealed today that their new venue is The Paper Factory, a 15.5-acre site occupied by the former Saica paper and cardboard manufacturing facility in Maybury, on the western edge of Edinburgh.

But don’t worry, you don’t have to wait till the spring to get the Hidden Door experience. You can get a flavour of the scale and scope of their vast new space this November with Hidden Door’s weekend party to christen the new venue. “Our Venue Launch Party in November will provide a sneak peek into what we have in store,” says Hazel Johnson, Festival Director of Hidden Door. “We look forward to welcoming you to the Paper Factory!” 

The Paper Factory. Photo: Chris Scott

This launch party will take place on 22 and 23 November and the lineup will be announced in October, but tickets are on sale now. There will also be free access to the festival and venue during the day on Saturday 23 November. The lineup is sure to be as eclectic and boundary-pushing as we’ve come to expect from Hidden Door, but this launch party will also be a great opportunity to have a nosey around the new site, which features a mix of warehouses, factory floors, offices and outhouses; we can’t wait to see how these varied spaces are transformed in the imitable Hidden Door style. And while it's a bit out of town, the new venue should be reasonably easy to get to – it's close to Edinburgh Gateway tram and train stations and on a number of bus routes both from the city centre and outside Edinburgh.

Earlier this year, Hidden Door took over a basement car park in the St James Quarter mall in the heart of Edinburgh's city centre for a weekend festival celebrating its tenth birthday. This bigger, more industrial venue promises an exciting new atmosphere. “Every new venue we take on presents unique opportunities and challenges, and this vast space is no different,” says Johnson. “We can’t wait to start work transforming the towering buildings, acres of warehouses and – in true Hidden Door style – all the nooks and crannies into one of our most ambitious arts venues yet.

“In addition to the festival,” Johnson adds, “The Paper Factory will provide a base for Hidden Door to work with artists on site-specific performance and art, commission new work and take huge steps towards our sustainability goals with workshops, studios and more.”

Watch this space for more news on Hidden Door’s Venue Launch Party and for future announcements around the 2025 festival.

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For the Venue Launch Party tickets and more info, head to hiddendoorarts.org